Sentencing postponed for KC man in attack intended at governor

Casey Brezik pleaded guilty in February to attacking two Metropolitan Community College officials in 2010. He believed one was Gov. Jay Nixon, who was on his way to the college for an event. His sentencing, set for Friday, was delayed.

A power outage at the Jackson County Jail prompted court officials to postpone the Friday sentencing of a man charged in the 2010 attacks on two college officials before an appearance by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon.

In emails to judges just before noon, court administrators said elevators at the jail were not working and that all inmates were in lock down. None would be available for court appearances Friday, they said.

Casey Brezik, 25, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty in February to one count of first-degree assault, one count of second-degree assault and two counts of armed criminal action.

Nixon had planned to visit the Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley campus to announce plans for an expansion of high-speed Internet services across the state. He had landed in Kansas City just before the attack, but had not yet arrived at the college. He canceled his appearance.

As dignitaries gathered for the Sept. 14, 2010, event, Brezik bolted from a computer lab and lunged at Al Dimmitt Jr., the dean of instruction, and stabbed him in the neck.

MCC Chancellor Mark James, a law-enforcement veteran before going to the college, wrestled the knife away and pinned down Brezik. James was slightly wounded during the skirmish.

Brezik, who had worn a bullet-resistant vest to the campus that morning, thought he had stabbed Nixon, and seemed disappointed when authorities told him that Dimmitt had survived, sources told The Kansas City Star.

Brezik had attended Penn Valley for only three weeks before the attack. Relatives described him as an “anarchist” and his Facebook page was filled with political ranting, including a boast that he had been arrested for spitting on an officer during a G20 summit protest in Toronto.

Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 2006, Brezik spent time in at least four mental hospitals, according to court records that his mother filed in Greene County, Mo., in 2007.

She had asked to be designated as his guardian, saying he was “disabled and incapacitated” and had a history of “lack of personal hygiene, delusional thoughts, drug abuse, erratic behavior and homelessness.”

A judge ruled Brezik incompetent to stand trial in February 2011, and ordered that he be evaluated by mental health professionals. A judge later ruled him competent.

At his guilty plea in February, prosecutors agreed that the sentences for the two assault cases would run concurrently.